Matthew 5:10 NIV: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Growing up, I recall hearing tales of people in other countries getting persecuted for their faith. Stories of martyrs losing their lives or individuals meeting in secret to study the word of God. Thank goodness that wasn’t me, I’d think; I don’t know if I’d be strong enough to endure hard things like that! I would skim over this verse as irrelevant with those images as my reference point.

In jumping into this verse, however, I now see a new angle. First, let’s look at the word persecute. In Greek, the word dioko‘ means aggressively chasing like a hunter pursuing a catch. The feeling of being hunted stirs up fear, but the bigger question is, who is actually being hunted?

Jesus states this promise is for those hunted down because of righteousness. Righteousness is the church word scattered all over the Bible because it’s the ultimate goal for Christians. The term means to be upright, approved of by God, or just. In the simplest terms, it means living the “right” way.

I spent some time contemplating what living the right way might look like. Do you have an image of this? I thought of things we can see in others that demonstrate righteousness, like the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Ultimately, though, I kept returning to the summed-up concept of righteousness that Jesus taught: to love the Lord with every part of us AND to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Is it noble to be hunted, hurt, and attacked for proclaiming we are Christians, carrying our Bibles in public, and protesting what we feel is right? Perhaps. But the kingdom of heaven is promised for those who are attacked and persecuted for radically loving the least of these. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 NIV